I was meditating in a workshop lead by Ethan Nichtern this weekend.

He did a short five-minute meditation before we began talking about how changing our minds can change the world. The conversation was wonderful and I got many great ideas: pick up garbage, stop using plastic bags, start each week with a blank slate.

Yet, I was rattled.

In the short meditation I had an experience that is still with me. I noticed I was tired –I was surprised because I didn’t feel tired, I had a good night sleep, I had done the practices that morning that source my sufficiency and yet I found myself suddenly overcome with exhaustion.

I allowed myself to physically feel tired in that moment. I started exhibiting my manifestations of exhaustion that are quirky to my body. Yet I knew I wasn’t tired . . .

Then I thought maybe the person next to me is tired?

In that moment I felt it . . . the universal exhaustion of all the participants in the room, in the conference, in the city of Cambridge, in western civilization. I believe I dipped into a deep well of exhaustion and I was overcome with sadness.

How can we talk about sufficiency, create sustainability or honor the interdependence of all things if we are perpetually tired?

How can we alter the context for which we live if we are in a state of exhaustion?

How can we claim we are enough when we are perpetually deprived of sleep?

How much sleep are you willing to gift yourself tonight?